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Alex Flinn
Alex Flinn is an American author of novels for young adults. To date, she has written seven books that have been published. 'Personal life' Flinn was born in Glen Cove,New York and grew up in, New York and Miami, Florida. At the age of five she started thinking about being a writer and submitted early efforts to magazines like Highlights, which did not publish them. At twelve, she moved to Palmetto Bay, Florida, a suburb of Miami, where she still lives. She had a hard time making friends at her new school, and she has said that this experience inspired much of her writing for young adults, particularly her book, Breaking Point. She graduated from Miami-Palmetto High School and was in a magnet performing arts program called PAVAC (Performing And Visual Arts Center), which inspired some of her book, Diva. She graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in vocal performance (opera) then went to law school and practiced law for 10 years before retiring to devote herself full-time to writing, following the acceptance of her third book. She is married to Eugene Flinn and has two daughters. 'Breathing Underwater and Diva' Breathing Underwater was Flinn's first novel. It was originally published in 2001 and was chosen a Top 10 ALA Best Books For Young Adults for that year. The story of 16-year-old Nicholas Andreas, a wealthy Miami teen who is sent to anger management because his girlfriend, Caitlin, takes out a restraining order against him. Ordered by the judge to write about his relationship, Nick tells of falling in love with her, and the eventual time when his anger took over and he hit her. The book is set in Miami and Key West, Florida. An excerpt from the book was included in Liz Claiborne, Inc's Love is Not Abuse curriculum, which was formulated to teach students about dating violence. Diva, a sequel to''Breathing Underwater'' was released in 2006. It tells the story of Caitlin attending performing arts school as she gets over what happened between her and Nick and learns to be her own person while bonding with her often-flighty mother. 'Beastly' Beastly is a 2007 novel by Alex Flinn. It is a retelling of the fairytale Beauty And The Beast set in modern-day New York City. Flinn researched many versions of the Beauty And The Beast story to write her book. Many of these are playfully alluded to in portions of the book, particularly the chat room transcripts in which the character of Kyle talks to other teens who have been transformed into creatures.It will be make a movie in 2011. 'Upcoming works' Flinn has stated that her upcoming novel, titled Cloaked, is a melange of several fairy tales, including The Frog Prince, The Shoe Maker And The Elves, and The Six Swans. Set in Miami, it tells the story of a teen who works at the shoe repair counter at a posh South Beach hotel until he is sent on a quest by a princess, whose brother has been turned into a frog and set loose in the Florida Keys. It will be released January 25, 2011. 'Awards' Many of her books have made the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults lists, as well as Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. They have also received such teen-selected honors as the International Reading Association Young Adult Choices list (Breathing Underwater, Nothing to Lose, and Fade to Black). Flinn's books seem to appeal to teens who might otherwise prefer not to read, which is the charge of the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list.Her books have also been nominated for numerous state awards. Breathing Underwater won the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award in 2004. Beastly is nominated for the 2009 Lone Star State (Texas) Award and recently won the teen-selected Detroit Public Library Author Day Award.